


Life Goes On...

by phelpse



Category: Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
Genre: Continuation of Book, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-05
Updated: 2012-06-05
Packaged: 2017-11-06 23:44:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/424526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phelpse/pseuds/phelpse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snowman has to fulfill his promise, he has to keep on living.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Goes On...

**Author's Note:**

> So this was actually a short story written for a school project, but I liked it enough to post it here. It starts of right from the end of Oryx and Crake.

 

_Time to go._

_  
_

He walks away.  The Children of Crake need him more than some stragglers; they were waiting for his return.  He has his promise to Oryx, and while it was true the Craker's did not really need his guidance, they still expected his swift return and the news it brought. 

 

“I hope you’re happy,” Snowman whispers to the air as he walks through the sand, retracing the steps he took.  There’s no reply this time.  Snowman didn’t really expect one.  (But he wanted one).

 

There’s no way that he can be sure the survivors won’t want to kill him, the keeper of Crake’s creations.  Snowman knows that he’s a coward at heart, unable to face the people that Crake hurt the most, the ones that don’t know why.  He knows that they will never really understand even if he tells them his story, Snowman knows all the survivors will ever feel deep down is anger towards what happened.  Snowman knows it’s better to leave without them knowing of his presence.

 

As he walks back to the Craker’s village, Snowman see’s a crop of _Laelia angereri_ growing under the trees, swaying in the sea breeze coming off the water.  He thinks they must be a modified strain that took root after the outbreak because seeing them before was incredibly rare; the Craker’s would surely think it a fine show of gratitude for trying to heal his foot. 

\---------------

            The touch of her skin, so soft, so brittle, set Jimmy aflame.  The pooling of sheets lying under her clothed body called to his soul.  The knowledge of their current transgression both ignited his passion and withered his heart.  Living with Oryx was a contradiction.  One that Jimmy both loved and hated for the people it involved. 

 

            But Oryx would never feel for him like Jimmy did for her.  He knew that the first time he had met her in person.  Living to please was her one true calling, one that she had followed her entire life.  Oryx would never be able to decide between him and Crake, both of them were equal in her heart.  Jimmy knew that the time they had together was short, too short, and Oryx would always leave and go back to Crake, breaking his heart just a little every time.  She would vanish and take with her his love, his heart, his soul, leaving only the scent of _lilium_ perfume on the sheets and a feeling of anguish deep in Jimmy’s gut.    

\---------------

Everything slowly came into focus.  A bird cawed in the distance; bugs skittered around in the underbrush.  The forest was full of life and he wasn’t a part of it.  He wasn’t with Crake, he wasn’t in Paradice anymore, he was alone.  He faintly knew in the back of his mind that the Craker’s would be sending him a fish later, but it was still early now, he had time to spare, all the time in the world.  He closed his eyes and slipped back into sleep, fading back into the world around him once again.

\---------------

They withered on a Tuesday. 

 

To Jimmy it was the final sign, the final reminder that his mother was never returning.  They had been the only thing his mother had really cared about for a very long time.  The flowers, a unique blend of _rosa kordesii_ and _rosa chinensis,_ were her pet project when she was still working at OrganInc, the only thing in the house that received any real care and love from her.  Created by Jimmy’s mother in her free time, these particular flowers had been around for as long as Jimmy can remember.  Laying in the sunlight on the kitchen windowsill they seemed to overlook his presence, high above his reach.  They stayed that way long after he was tall enough to grow out of that notion. 

 

Jimmy knew from a very early age that those flowers were exclusively his mothers, never to be touched by anyone else in the house.  Not even his father had to right to look upon their presence for any length of time, else his mother became angry.  The first time that he had ever seen his mother cry was when a stray rakunk somehow broke into the kitchen and knocked the flower pot onto the ground, spilling soil over the tiles like blood, breaking the flowers in the process.  To Jimmy the broken and trample stems had looked like a murder scene.  She had cried like someone had died too, weeping over the creations that had been stolen from her.  It didn’t matter that they could be grown back better than ever; she loved each flower more than she loved her own blood.

 

It seemed she didn’t love those flowers enough though; she left them behind during her escape.  He found them later, after the events following her escape, sitting there, obscenely tranquil, on the windowsill.  Unaffected by the events that had passed.  Jimmy touched them, just for a moment, as frivolous angry overtook him, anger directed at his mother for leaving, for taking Killer from him, but he quickly drew away.  It was still wrong to touch them, even with her gone; the flowers were still under her protection.  Jimmy’s father knew as well, although he never said it aloud, they both never touched the blossoms.  Instead Jimmy’s father ignored their existence; they were just a reminder of their mother’s betrayal.  So the flowers sat there, slowly dying, with no one to take care of them.  They withered, highlighted by sunlight in their life, and in their death. 

 

They were thrown out on a Friday. 

\---------------

Jimmy sometimes loved Crake just as much as he despised him.  Crake was all that he could never be, he was smart, resourceful, aloof, all the things that made him stronger, made Jimmy weak.  Crake knew this too.  Knew all of Jimmy’s emotions, knew all the ones even Jimmy didn’t care to recognize.  Crake was the one person that knew him best, knew him in a way Oryx never would.

 

It made Jimmy wonder sometimes, how much Crake knew.  How much he knew about the tryst with Oryx, because Jimmy knew that Crake knew something, just not how much.  And Jimmy wondered why Crake never said anything, why it didn’t seem to matter to him that they were going behind his back.  Jimmy was thankful, with Crake not saying anything; they both got what they wanted: they both received Oryx’s love.  And that made Jimmy love Crake even more.  Crake gave him love, gave him a job, gave him a life, and that made Jimmy want to tell his long-time friend even more.  He was in debt to Crake, but he kept his mouth shut.  The situation they had now was working, no matter how messed up it was.  Crake deserved to know the truth, but Jimmy was a coward and didn’t want their relationship to change.  Jimmy didn’t know how he could survive it.  So he kept it a secret, kept it close to his chest.  The pain was worth it, their relationship never altered.  And Jimmy went on loving Crake for the happiness and despising him for the pain, until the end.   

\---------------

Life continued.  There were, of course, both good days and bad, but Snowman survived.  Since he returned and told the Craker’s about Crake’s wish to raise the amount of fish Snowman received in a week, Snowman had been doing better.  There was no longer a desperate hunger clawing at him deep in his gut and for the first time since the outbreak, Snowman felt like he could stay.  He could stay alive and fulfill his promise to Oryx and look after the Craker’s, he could go surviving for as long as he was needed.  And maybe, Snowman thought in slow moments, he could finally live again. 


End file.
